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The characterization of the mechanisms conferring resistance to herbicides in weeds is essential for developing effective management programs. This study was focused on characterizing the resistance level and the main mechanisms that confer resistance to glyphosate in a resistant (R) Steinchisma laxum population collected in a Colombian rice field in 2020. The R population exhibited 11.2 times higher resistance compared to a susceptible (S) population. Non-target site resistance (NTSR) mechanisms that reduced absorption and impaired translocation and glyphosate metabolism were not involved in the resistance to glyphosate in the R population. Evaluating the target site resistance mechanisms by means of enzymatic activity assays and EPSPS (5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase) gene sequencing, the mutation Pro106Ser was found in R plants of S. laxum. These findings are crucial for managing the spread of S. laxum resistance in Colombia. To effectively control S. laxum in the future, it is imperative that farmers use herbicides with different mechanisms of action in addition to glyphosate and adopt Integrate Management Programs to control weeds in rice fields of the central valleys of Colombia.

Herbicide-resistant weeds have been identified and recorded on every continent where croplands are available. Despite the diversity of weed communities, it is of interest how selection has led to the same consequences in distant regions. Brassica rapa is a widespread naturalized weed that is found throughout temperate North and South America, and it is a frequent weed among winter cereal crops in Argentina and in Mexico. Broadleaf weed control is based on glyphosate that is used prior to sowing and sulfonylureas or mimic auxin herbicides that are used once the weeds have already emerged. This study was aimed at determining whether a convergent phenotypic adaptation to multiple herbicides had occurred in B. rapa populations from Mexico and Argentina by comparing the herbicide sensitivity to inhibitors of the acetolactate synthase (ALS), 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSPS), and auxin mimics. Five B. rapa populations were analyzed from seeds collected in wheat fields in Argentina (Ar1 and Ar2) and barley fields in Mexico (Mx1, Mx2 and MxS). Mx1, Mx2, and Ar1 populations presented multiple resistance to ALS- and EPSPS-inhibitors and to auxin mimics (2,4-D, MCPA, and fluroxypyr), while the Ar2 population showed resistance only to ALS-inhibitors and glyphosate. Resistance factors ranged from 947 to 4069 for tribenuron-methyl, from 1.5 to 9.4 for 2,4-D, and from 2.7 to 42 for glyphosate. These were consistent with ALS activity, ethylene production, and shikimate accumulation analyses in response to tribenuron-methyl, 2,4-D, and glyphosate, respectively. These results fully support the evolution of the multiple- and cross-herbicide resistance to glyphosate, ALS-inhibitors, and auxinic herbicides in B. rapa populations from Mexico and Argentina.

Of the six-glyphosate resistant weed species reported in Mexico, five were found in citrus groves. Here, the glyphosate susceptibility level and resistance mechanisms were evaluated in saltmarsh aster (Aster squamatus), a weed that also occurs in Mexican citrus groves. The R population accumulated 4.5-fold less shikimic acid than S population. S plants hardly survived at 125 g ae ha−1 while most of the R plants that were treated with 1000 g ae ha−1, which suffered a strong growth arrest, showed a vigorous regrowth from the third week after treatment. Further, 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate basal and enzymatic activities did not diverge between populations, suggesting the absence of target-site resistance mechanisms. At 96 h after treatment, R plants absorbed ~18% less glyphosate and maintained 63% of the 14C-glyphsoate absorbed in the treated leaf in comparison to S plants. R plants metabolized twice as much (72%) glyphosate to amino methyl phosphonic acid and glyoxylate as the S plants. Three non-target mechanisms, reduced absorption and translocation and increased metabolism, confer glyphosate resistance saltmarsh aster. This is the first case of glyphosate resistance recorded for A. squamatus in the world.

Species of Phalaris have historically been controlled by acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase)-inhibiting herbicides; however, overreliance on herbicides with this mechanism of action has resulted in the selection of resistant biotypes. The resistance to ACCase-inhibiting herbicides was characterized in Phalaris brachystachys, Phalaris minor, and Phalaris paradoxa samples collected from winter wheat fields in northern Iran. Three resistant (R) biotypes, one of each Phalaris species, presented high cross-resistance levels to diclofop-methyl, cycloxydim, and pinoxaden, which belong to the chemical families of aryloxyphenoxypropionates (FOPs), cyclohexanediones (DIMs), and phenylpyrazolines (DENs), respectively. The metabolism of 14C-diclofop-methyl contributed to the resistance of the P. brachystachys R biotype, while no evidence of herbicide metabolism was found in P. minor or P. paradoxa. ACCase in vitro assays showed that the target sites were very sensitive to FOP, DIM, and DEN herbicides in the S biotypes of the three species, while the R Phalaris spp. biotypes presented different levels of resistance to these herbicides. ACCase gene sequencing confirmed that cross-resistance in Phalaris species was conferred by specific point mutations. Resistance in the P. brachystachys R biotype was due to target site and non-target-site resistance mechanisms, while in P. minor and P. paradoxa, only an altered target site was found.

Glyphosate is a cheap herbicide that has been used to control a wide range of weeds (4−6 times/year) in citrus groves of the Gulf of Mexico; however, its excessive use has selected for glyphosate-resistant weeds. We evaluated the efficacy and economic viability of 13 herbicide treatments (glyphosate combined with PRE- and/or POST-emergence herbicides and other alternative treatments), applied in tank-mixture or sequence, to control glyphosate-resistant weeds in two Persian lime groves (referred to as SM-I and SM-II) of the municipality of Acateno, Puebla, during two years (2014 and 2015). The SM-I and SM-II fields had 243 and 346 weeds/m2, respectively, composed mainly of Bidens pilosa and Leptochloa virgata. Echinochloa colona was also frequent in SM-II. The glyphosate alone treatments (1080, 1440, or 1800 g ae ha−1) presented control levels of the total weed population ranging from 64% to 85% at 15, 30, and 45 d after treatment (DAT) in both fields. Mixtures of glyphosate with grass herbicides such as fluazifop-p-butyl, sethoxydim, and clethodim efficiently controlled E. colona and L. virgata, but favored the regrowth of B. pilosa. The sequential applications of glyphosate + (bromacil + diuron) and glufosinate + oxyfluorfen controlled more than 85% the total weed community for more than 75 days. However, these treatments were between 360% and 390% more expensive (1.79 and 1.89 $/day ha−1 of satisfactory weed control, respectively), compared to the representative treatment (glyphosate 1080 g ae ha−1 = USD $29.0 ha−1). In practical and economic terms, glufosinate alone was the best treatment controlling glyphosate resistant weeds maintaining control levels >80% for at least 60 DAT ($1.35/day ha−1). The rest of the treatments, applied in tank-mix or in sequence with glyphosate, had similar or lower control levels (~70%) than glyphosate at 1080 g ae ha−1. The adoption of glufosiante alone, glufosinate + oxyfluorfen or glyphosate + (bromacil + diuron) must consider the cost of satisfactory weed control per day, the period of weed control, as well as other factors associated with production costs to obtain an integrated weed management in the short and long term.